Hanukkah celebrations ‘add light to the world’ for Jews amid darkness

In preparation for Hanukkah, Rabbi Mendy Weg drove around the campus of Northwestern University in his “HannuKart” — a golf cart outfitted with a large menorah on a flatbed in the back — to deliver dreidels and chocolate gelt coins to students.

The menorah, which lights up, is a very public display of Weg’s Jewish faith at a time when antisemitic incidents have spiked nationwide and internationally amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Some Jews around the country have reported a fear of lighting menorahs in their home windows this holiday season or wearing items that might identify them by their faith, such as a Star of David or yarmulke, due to concerns over backlash.

Various Hanukkah celebrations in the United States and around the globe have recently been canceled or nearly nixed in the wake of the war, which has stretched on for more than two months following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed roughly 1,200.

Yet Weg believes celebrating Hanukkah — an eight-day festival of lights that began at sundown Thursday and ends Dec. 15 — is particularly paramount this year in the face of recent antisemitic attacks and the ongoing war.

“It’s a really important time to add light to the menorah and add light to the world and be proud of our Judaism,” said Weg, campus rabbi at Northwestern Chabad in Evanston. “As much as we need to be vigilant and be responsible and care for each other, if we bow and say that because of what’s going on we’re going to stop being proud Jews, then we’re letting … the voices of hate win. And the voices of hate should never win.”

The holiday comes as colleges across the country are also grappling with fallout from the war in the Middle East, with many leaders describing a struggle to balance free speech rights with the need for all students to feel secure and safe.

The presidents of Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania faced criticism following their testimony Tuesday during a House hearing on antisemitism on college campuses, with some students, alums and politicians calling for their resignations

A recent Anti-Defamation League report found Jewish college students across the country feel much less safe since Oct. 7, with 73% responding that they have witnessed or experienced antisemitism since the start of this school year. Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment have also skyrocketed since the war’s inception, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations reporting more than 2,000 complaints, calls for help or reports of bias over roughly the past two months, a 172% rise since a similar period last year.

Northwestern University President Michael Schill last month announced a new advisory committee on preventing antisemitism and hate on campus, adding that he has “heard from students and parents who feel unsafe” since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

An estimated 15% to 20% of undergraduates at Northwestern are Jewish, or around 1,200 to 1,600 students, according to Northwestern Hillel, a Jewish organization on campus.

“Northwestern will not stand for antisemitism or discriminatory acts directed at any individual based upon their race, religion, national origin or other protected categories,” Schill said in a statement. “A strong commitment to fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate, such as those targeting students, faculty or staff of Muslim or Arab heritage, is consistent with our value of protecting free expression.”

As for Weg, the rabbi said there’s “definitely a sense of unease” among many Jewish students on campus. Yet he stressed that antisemitism will not diminish “if we go under a rock.”

He noted that the holiday celebrates Jews overcoming religious adversity: Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabees, a band of Jewish freedom fighters, triumphed over their Greek-Syrian oppressors centuries ago. The story goes that the rededication of the temple required oil to light the menorah, but only enough to last one night could be found; miraculously, that small amount of oil somehow burned for eight days until more could be procured, which is represented by candles that are lit on eight consecutive nights, one at a time.

“It’s been said, a little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness,” Weg said. “You go into a dark room, and you take a candle — even if it’s pitch black, one little match can bring a degree of light to the world. And if we each light our match, then that brings a lot of light, and it will drown a lot of darkness.”

‘There should not be fear’

To kick off the first night of Hanukkah, a crowd of several hundred gathered at Fountain Square in Evanston for a menorah lighting ceremony on Thursday, which was sponsored by Chabad of Evanston.

Among the speakers was Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, who acknowledged that “it is a time right now that a lot of Jews feel a little bit alone.”

“I want to send the signal that we are not alone,” Biss said, after reading a long list of public officials who attended and pointing out the many law enforcement officers at the scene to help keep the event safe. “And that the leaders of this community stand with the Jewish community in this time of difficulty but also on this night of celebration.”

Jake Wolin, 28, of Evanston brought his young daughter to the ceremony “to show her what Hanukkah is all about.”

“I think it’s still really important to show up to these events and show we stand behind the Jewish people in Israel, especially in the time they’re going through right now,” he said.

Although the increase in antisemitism is scary, Wolin said, he is putting a menorah on display in his window. While he has been a little worried about wearing items that identify him as Jewish, he added that “I am still going to.”

The Evanston ceremony is one of many Chicago-area Hanukkah community events being held this month, despite the recent rise in antisemitism and ongoing war overseas.

Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to attend the Chabad Center for Jewish Life’s lighting ceremony of a giant menorah in Daley Plaza on Monday. Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie is hosting Hanukkah activities and a nightly menorah lighting through Dec. 15, in partnership with Chabad of Skokie. Chabad of Naperville is celebrating Hanukkah with a menorah car parade and menorah lighting on Wednesday.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is Jewish, plans to host a menorah lighting at the governor’s mansion in Springfield, according to a spokesperson.

“In the face of rising antisemitism and hate throughout our nation, the governor looks forward to celebrating the spirit of Hanukkah — a holiday marked by hope, solidarity and miracles,” said Alex Gough, a spokesperson for the governor’s office. “No Illinoisan, regardless of their religious background, should live in fear of celebrating their respective holidays and traditions.”

The Israeli consulate in Chicago held an interfaith Hanukkah celebration on Thursday, which included a menorah lighting and sufganiyot, traditional jelly doughnuts.

The event incorporated prayers for “the innocent civilians killed on Oct. 7″ as well as hostages who still remain in captivity by Hamas, according to a statement.

An Evanston mother and daughter were among the first of the hostages captured during the Oct. 7 attack to be released by Hamas in late October.

Judith Raanan, 59, and Natalie Raanan, 18, a Deerfield High School graduate, were taken by Hamas while visiting family at the Nahal Oz kibbutz in Israel.

Yinam Cohen, consul general of Israel to the Midwest, noted in an email that this year’s Hanukkah festivities are bittersweet “as we watch our families and friends in Israel who were taken hostage by Hamas slowly get released back to Israel.”

Cohen, who is based in Chicago, also lamented the pervasive sense of worry that plagues many Jewish Americans due to escalating antisemitism.

“There should not be fear in this country of putting up religious items in or on one’s home, but more and more American Jews have either been taking down religious items in their homes or have been too scared to put up holiday decorations that set them apart from their neighbors,” he said.

Hanukkah should be a time of celebration of religious freedom, Cohen added.

“Not a time where Jews should be afraid, especially in their homes, in America, in 2023,” he said.

Canceled, altered, reinstated

The recent cancellation of some Hanukkah events in the United States and other nations has sparked controversy as well as wide rebuke from many politicians and Jewish groups.

Some of these festivities were quickly restored at the prompting of Jewish organizations and faith leaders.

A Hanukkah celebration at an art and music festival in Williamsburg, Virginia, was reportedly canceled because the founder said the menorah lighting “seemed very inappropriate” due to the war, according to the Virginia Gazette.

The governor of Virginia lambasted the cancellation.

“Singling out the Jewish community by canceling this Hanukkah celebration is absurd and antisemitic,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin posted on the social media site X, which was formerly known as Twitter. “The event organizers should immediately reconsider their actions and move forward with the menorah lighting.”

The United Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula was “shocked and alarmed” by the cancellation and called on the festival to reinstate “the apolitical menorah ceremony;” soon after, the Hanukkah event found a new location, according to the Virginia Gazette.

“We should be very clear: It is antisemitic to hold Jews collectively responsible for Israel’s policies and actions, and to require a political litmus test for Jews’ participation in community events that have nothing to do with Israel,” the organization said in a statement. “Those standards would never be applied to another community.”

The London Borough of Havering last month paused plans to install a Hanukkah menorah due to “escalating tensions from the conflict in the Middle East,” according to a Havering Council statement. The decision was reversed the next day, after Jewish leaders explained why the installation was so important to the Jewish community.

“Our community has been listened to and as a result we are very pleased to say the planned installation of the Havering Menorah will be going ahead,” said the director of the London Jewish Forum in a joint statement released by the Havering Council and local Jewish leaders earlier this month.

Officials in Moncton, a small city in New Brunswick, Canada, also were criticized recently for opting against displaying a menorah, which had been a two-decade tradition there; officials cited the separation of church and state for the decision, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The city backtracked a few days ago due to a “strong reaction” against their decision to forgo the menorah, according to a statement by the mayor posted on X. The statement indicated the city had also originally decided against displaying a Nativity scene as well, and that choice was reversed too.

“The city wanted to be more inclusive toward our community by repositioning these faith symbols; however, we obviously fell short in this transition,” the statement said. “Despite our best intentions to do the right thing, we acted too quickly.”

Comments on the social media post largely supported the reversal, though some questioned the city’s initial decision.

“So to be inclusive is to exclude Jews and Christians?” one commenter asked.

“When is the next municipal election?” asked another comment under the statement.

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The Anti-Defamation League described a dramatic increase in antisemitic attacks and rhetoric around the country since the war began; in roughly the first two weeks after Oct. 7, the ADL recorded more than 300 antisemitic incidents, a 388% increase compared with the same period last year. Just a few hours before Hanukkah started on Thursday, a man was arrested in upstate New York for allegedly firing a shotgun outside a Jewish temple, according to The Associated Press; no one was injured, but police said the man said “free Palestine“ as he was taken into custody, the AP reported.

A heat map on the ADL’s website tracks roughly four dozen alleged antisemitic incidents in Illinois in 2023.

The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center this month launched the program “Understanding and Confronting Anti-Jewish Hate,” a series of discussions with Holocaust survivors, historians, community officials and religious leaders that will extend into 2024.

The administration of President Joe Biden also addressed this climate of rising antisemitism, as well as the recent alteration or cancellation of Hanukkah events, during a news conference Monday.

“Obviously, over the past couple of weeks since this — certainly since this war started, we have seen the increase of antisemitism,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, while also noting the recent increase in Islamophobia amid the war. “And, you know, we understand the fear that people in the Jewish community must be feeling right now, which is why we have taken action to do everything that we can to make sure that people in that community feel protected.”

The Associated Press contributed

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